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Un passo avanti nella “ergonomia globale” della sala operatoria

20 Mar 2015

Mario Casmiro, Primario di Neurologia, Ospedale di Faenza

What makes one type of surgery "mentally" more complicated than another? The surgical technique, the type of surgery, or some characteristics of the surgeon, e.g. experience or age? Is it possible to reduce the risk of error by lowering the surgeon's mental load?

A scientific study conducted by Faentia Consulting in collaboration with several Italian Surgeries (Florence, Faenza, Bibbiena, Modena) tries to find answers to these questions; the preliminary results of this study were presented at the XIV Congress of the Italian Society of Neuroepidemiology which was held in Milan, Mario Negri Institute for Research, on 21 and November 22 last.

The Congress theme was how to improve clinical practice, optimize resources and facilitate research. The results of Faentia Consulting study have attracted great interest, confirming the extreme importance of the subject: on average, the mental load is higher for the open technique compared to laparoscopy, but in both cases one can identify subgroups at low and high mental load, with specific determinants.

This study is part of our broader project of "global ergonomics of the operating room" (named “project Ergoscopia"), i.e. an ergonomics not only physical but also cognitive. The abstract of the study is available online on the website of the Italian Society of Neuroepidemiology (NEP), at the web address www.ainep.net (page Convegni NEP).